Vehicle-to-X communication (or V2X) is known in the prior art and is currently in the process of standardization, including with ETSI. Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) is likewise known in the prior art. Also known is the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), which constitutes a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) method for generating and verifying digital signatures. The use of ECDSA for signing and verifying vehicle-to-X messages has been standardized by the IEEE, ETSI and the Car2Car Communication Consortium. Using what are known as long-term certificates (LTC) and ECU keys for authenticating vehicle-to-X communication systems in a public key infrastructure (PKI) has also been standardized by the IEEE, ETSI and the Car2Car Communication Consortium.